The evolution of knowledge in communities of practice

Organizations and groups rely on the effective capture and sharing of knowledge for their survival. They spend a significant amount of effort and time to codify and manage the body of knowledge that their constituents collectively possess. Despite these efforts, tacit knowledge tends to solely reside within those who use it for their day to day work. It is widely believed that tacit knowledge disappears when the individual possessing it leaves an organization or group. More and more organizations are fostering communities of practice as a mechanism to influence knowledge creation and dissemination. Hence, it becomes imperative for us to understand how best to capture the knowledge that now resides within these communities, which could extend across multiple organizations. In this research article, we establish that the knowledge contained within communities of practice evolves over a period of time. We examine the evolution of this knowledge, and its impact on the community as well as the invidividuals concerned.

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